Watch this video from the Paris event. It’s 30 minutes long and shows a Witch Hunter participating in a 18 vs. 18 scenario of capture the flag. It all looks great. Lots of action, lots of fun, and sadly lots of stealth. Watching that Witch Hunter clearly stealth in that video bothers me a lot. It wasn’t more than just a few months ago that talking about stealth being in WAR was completely taboo. Mark Jacob’s spoke on stealth classes in relation to WAR himself not too long ago when he said “[I] hate them in a PvP game.” (read this post for more of the quote)
Explanation? Anyone? Why has stealth wriggled its way into Warhammer?
Okay, I’ll acknowledge that the Witch Hunter isn’t going to one-shot anyone and that alone makes stealth classes a lot less powerful. But it’s still a stealth class. Are the Shadow Warriors going to have stealth? Can we get it all out in the open? Who is and who isn’t going to be capable of sneaking behind enemy lines and stabbing our squishies?
ARGH Mythic! You’re killin’ me here.
Here’s a picture from the video in case you missed it….
Update: Here are some links to discussions about the revelation of stealth. Lots of outrage. I’ll add more as I find them. Feel free to link to any in the comments and I’ll add them.
Warhammer Alliance Stealth Thread (Starts on page 21 or so) // WAR Vault’s Stealth Thread
They’ve been dropping a lot of bombs on us lately.
Not good and I hope it doesn’t get worse.
Ugh.. I can handle stealth as long as there are not spells and stuns that make you lose complete control of your character.
Or chain stun.
I’d be okay with some form of stealth if it worked differently than the WoW model. I’ve always wanted to see stealth be based on shadows: ie, if there is a shadow on the ground then the character can stealth. This would make shaded areas such as forests/cities more favorable to a rogue then an open area such as plains or a mountain top. The rogue would have to pay attention to how they moved in order to stay stealthed effectively.
Another possibility would be the way Team Fortress 2 does it. Stealth could be used to get behind an enemy position, but the player couldn’t attack without unstealthing first, and it would take several seconds to transition. Heck, just having a timer on stealth would be great. It’d prevent the “and four stealthed rogues” crap.
Only the Witch Hunter and [Removed NDA Violation] can stealth. [More NDA Violations]
[Keen’s Note: Sorry for editing your post, but we do our best to avoid NDA violations on our blog.]
Heh, way to break the NDA. 😛
Not sure what I’m allowed to say on the issue beyond that this is just beta, which means what you see isn’t always what you’ll get. Really hoping I could explain this more fully because it would probably put your fears to rest…
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO [deep breath] nooooooooooooooo it’s not true! That’s impossible!
Na im not in the beta, that info is available on lots of websites and from people who have played it at events.
Not sure if Links work here, but its on the only-war blog, the 2nd class was playable at paris gamesday =)
“Another possibility would be the way Team Fortress 2 does it. Stealth could be used to get behind an enemy position, but the player couldn’t attack without unstealthing first, and it would take several seconds to transition.”
I agree with Karnov and think that’s how WAR is doing the stealth thaaang.
Based on what I’ve gleaned from the web, only two classes are planned to have stealth (one on each side) and it’s intended as a mechanic for closing to melee range. The stealth ability can’t be kept up indefinitely, can be easily seen through at close range, and doesn’t lead into super attacks or chain stuns. It’s intended as a tool to close to melee, rather than the basis of damage dealing for the class.
I hate stealth classes in pvp, but from what I’ve heard I’m not too worried about this. It does mean you’ll likely see ‘witchhunter gank squads’ in RvR who sneak behind the lines to kill healers, but I think that’s a valid tactic, and healers are nowhere near as helpless in this game as most MMORPGs. Well, they’re not supposed to be anyway. A destruction stealther trying to gank a Priest of Sigmar might be in for a rude surprise.
I’ve always thought “stealth” should be more like “ambush”. As in it’s only good if you aren’t moving and have had time to set up without being in view of the enemy or something similar.
Using terrain would give you bonuses to not be seen, etc.
Now that’s something I’d be very excited to see included!
[…] Will there be stealth in WAR, even after the devs denied it? Keen makes an observation that may be the thorn in my liony paw! […]